Separately-loaded ammunition



Oct. 29, 1968 w. GAHLE SEPARATELY-LOADED AMMUNITION Filed May 6. 1966 Fig 4 Inventor.-

United States Q1 ce 3,407,735 SEPARATELY-LOADED AMMUNITION Walter Giihle, Unterluss-Hohenrieth, Germany, assignor to Firma Rheinrnetall G.m.b.I-I., Dusseldorf, Germany Filed May 6, 1966, Ser. No. 548,278 Claims priority, appligation Germany, May 8, 1%5,

1 Claim. 102-97 ABSTRACT 0F THE DISCLOSURE The invention relates to separately-loaded ammunition consisting of a bag having a number of separate sections each filled with propeller powder lying one adjacent the other and held together by holding means. Such ammunition is used, in particular, as ammunition for heavy artillery.

The advantage of this type of bag is that no cartridge case is required so that not only is there a worthwhile saving in material and cost, but also the not inconsiderably transport weight is reduced and empty cartridge cases do not have to be recovered.

However, these advantages are olfset by various disadvantages. For example, the bag consists of a number of sections which are held together by bands fixed to the base section, the bands being made of the same material as the bag and run parallel to one another at intervals round the bag of about 120 and pass over all the sections to be knotted together on top of the uppermost section in such a way that they can be untied.

The stability of the bag naturally cannot be compared with a cartridge case since the bands cannot be drawn tight as it must remain possible to remove one or more of the sections. It is easy to see that the process of loading a gun is not so quick or easy with the somewhat unstable bag as with cartridges which means that the firing rate of the gun is considerably reduced. In addition, bags are not protected from the weather particularly when they are unpacked at the firing position and are in danger to personnel since the slightest spark might detonate the charge hence endangering the personnel in the vicinity.

It is the aim of the invention to eliminate those disadvantages and drawbacks and this is achieved by inserting the sections into a hollow cylinder made of synthetic material closed at each end, the outer surface of which is marked with circumferential rings at which the cylinder can be broken, such rings corresponding to the separations between the sections.

A material which has been found particularly advantageous for the hollow cylinder is a synthetic foamed polystyrol material which has a low inflammability and disintegrates during firing. The physical and chemical properties of that material are particularly suited to the purpose for which it is to be used. The material not only has an extremely small density and is unaffected by moisture, but also as a result of its poor inflammability does not burn and disintegrates on leaving the barrel of the gun so that there is no deposit in the barrel and no harmful side effects.

In order to be able to extract one or more of the partial charges depending on the firing range, the outer surface of the hollow cylinder has circumferential ring markings at which it can be broken corresponding to the positions of the sections. By notching the filled cylinder at a predetermined breaking-oil line, the total charge can be shortened to a suitable number of sections which still form a stable unit enclosed by the cylinder and as such can be fed rapidly and safely into the breech of the gun. The hollow cylinder can alternatively be broken at the predetermined points by pulling an inserted rip wire so that in this case neither a special device nor supplementary means are required to break the cylinder at the correct position.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of the prior art bag ammunition which consists of five sections,

FIG.'2 is a longitudinal section of a first embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 3 is a transverse section of another embodiment, and,

FIG. 4 is a side view of a complete charge fitted in a hollow cylinder.

Up to now separately-loaded ammunition 1 comprising sections III-VII with the data as to weight, dimensions, powder manufacturer, day and place of manufacture stamped on the sections were held togetheras shown in FIG. 1 by the dash-dot linesby means of bands fixed to the lowermost section 3 as seen in FIG. 1, passing round the Whole charge and knotting on top of the uppermost section 7.

According to the present invention, the sections 1, the lowermost 3 of which is provided with an ignition system in the known way, are supplied without bands and are placed one after the other according to their charge value in a hollow cylinder 2 of polystyrol with a fixed base ring 3 and are prevented from falling out by a cover 4. The aperture cross-section of the base ring 3 is of such a size that the transmission of the ignition spark to the propellant charge is not impeded. The partial charges 1 fit so tightly in the hollow cylinder 2 that they do not move during transport and loading. As is known, the complete propellent charge comprising the sections III to VII is not required in every case. Thus e.g. for a shorter firing range, one or more of the sections may be removed before firing. For this purpose there are circumferential ring breaking-off lines in the outer surface of the cylinder 2 corresponding in positions with the junctions between the sections III-VII, for example notches 5. In order to avoid affecting the stability of the hollow cylinder 2, the depth of the notches 5 should not exceed half the thick ness of the casing.

Breaking lines can alternatively be made by rip wires or strips 6. These are introduced before the synthetic material of the cylinder is foamed so that only the end of the wire or strip to be gripped projects out of the finished cylinder 2. An advantage of this latter construction is the constant thickness of the casing.

However, when the breaking-off points are formed by notches no supplementary means are required to separate one or more sections of the cylinder 2. The cylinder can be broken at a requisite ring against an edge or even over the knee of a gunner by grasping the cylinder with both hands and knocking it against the chosen object at the required ring.

So that the cylinder 2 can be broken at the correct ring, the surface is marked at appropriate points with an indication of the charge value of the associated section.

After the sections not required have been broken 01f, the remainder of the sections form a unit in the cylinder 2 despite the absence of the cover 4 so that the loading The special advantage of the hollow cylinder made of polystyrol is its poor inflammability which ensures that the cylinder does not burn but disintegrates after leaving the barrel of the gun so thatit leaves no deposit in the barrel and does not cause any additional gases to be formed.

I claim:

1. separable-load ammunition comprising a plurality of ammunition charges adapted to be stacked one on the other, a casing of foamed polystyrol in the vform of a cylinder of low-flammability and having spaced breakofi lines in the form of circumferential notches forming cover in the form of a closure member on each end or the casing, and a rip-strip in each notch to separate the charges, said charges being accommodated in the casing in correspondence with the notched sections.

ReferencesCited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,220,208. 3/1917 Ellis 10224 1,431,774- 10/1922 Bowman 102-24 2,345,887 4/1944 Rothrock 102-24 2,558,163 6/1951 Wright et al. 102-24 3,257,948 6/1966 Axelrod et a1. 10243 sections in spaced relationship relative to each other, a 15 ROBERT F. STAHL, Primary Examiner. 

